Jan 2 - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said in a New Year's interview that his country is willing to receive U.S. investment in its oil sector, coordinate in the fight against drug trafficking, and hold serious talks with the United States.
"We must start to speak seriously, with the facts in hand," Maduro said in his annual interview with a Spanish journalist, originally published in Mexican newspaper La Jornada and broadcast on Venezuelan state television on New Year's Day.
"If they want to speak seriously about an agreement to battle drug trafficking, we are ready...If they want Venezuela’s oil, Venezuela is ready to accept U.S. investments like those of Chevron, when, where, and how they want to make them."
The comments echo previous statements by Maduro about his willingness to dialogue with Donald Trump, even as the U.S. president has escalated pressure on Maduro - including expanded sanctions, a ramped-up U.S. military presence in the region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Maduro said the pressure is an effort to gain control of Venezuela's vast natural resources.
"What is the goal of the United States? They've said it," Maduro said in the interview. "To grab all the oil of Venezuela...the gold, the rare earths."
COMBATTING DRUG TRAFFICKING
Trump this week said U.S. forces hit a dock in Venezuela used for loading drugs, but gave no details of its location. Maduro did not confirm the attack in the interview, but said he may discuss the issue in the coming days.
"What I can say is that our national defensive system, which combines popular, military and police forces, has guaranteed and will guarantee territorial integrity (and) the peace of the country," Maduro said.
A blog tied to Venezuela's ruling party said this week the location of the attack was a thin spit of coast on the La Guajira peninsula. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Maduro has always denied U.S. accusations of running a narco-state. He said cocaine smuggled through the region originates in neighboring Colombia and that Venezuela has "the perfect model" to combat drug trafficking.
SANCTIONS HALVE OIL EXPORTS
U.S. sanctions and recent seizures of oil tankers have halved Venezuela's normal rate of oil exports, though U.S. major Chevron, which has a special license from the United States to export Venezuelan oil, has continued to export.
Foreign currency flows to Venezuela's private sector are set to fall on the reduction in oil exports, stoking inflation and worsening already difficult economic conditions for Venezuelans. The bolivar currency depreciated 83% over 2025.
Venezuela's defaulted international bonds are trading at deeply distressed levels, though have broadly doubled in price since Trump came into office in January 2025, fuelled by hopes of a change in government.
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